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Shanks Joins Fox Sports As President

Eric Shanks, who
brought a drama about football to DirecTV and oversaw the real thing, is joining Fox Sports as president. The 38-year-old takes over for Ed Goren at the division that carries NASCAR, the NFL and Major
League Baseball.

He had been executive vice president of entertainment at DirecTV since 2006, where he helped engineer a deal to bring original episodes of NBC's "Friday Night Lights" to the
satellite operator. Shanks also worked to bolster what was arguably DirecTV's most critical brand differentiator: "NFL Sunday Ticket."

Goren -- who has been with Fox since 1994, when the network
established a sports unit on the backs of the NFL -- moves to vice chairman. Shanks had previously worked at Fox Sports, starting in 1994.

At DirecTV, he worked under CEO Chase Carey, now the No.
2 executive at Fox parent News Corp.

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Goren will work with David Hill in running Fox Sports Media group, which includes 19 regional sports networks, Fox Soccer Channel, Web ventures and other
properties.

At DirecTV, Shanks worked to bolster The 101 Network, an exclusive channel to the satellite operator's customers. It offered "Friday Night Lights" episodes before they debuted on NBC
and "The Dan Patrick Show." Episodes of HBO's "The Wire" will start this summer.

Shanks created DirecTV's first in-house ad sales operation. He also shepherded DirecTV's development of upcoming
3D channels.